A pop-up blocker only disables the creation of new top-level browser windows
that were not initiated by a user action. Those "WAIT DON'T LEAVE" boxes
are actually JavaScript confirmation dialogs. They're useful for applications
in which you might lose your place or lose unsaved data if you exit the page,
but the bottom feeders use them as a last-ditch effort to complete a conversion,
and it gives the impression of a desperate salesman standing in the doorway
trying to keep someone from leaving.

The new technique that I find particularly obnoxious is when a site detects
your mouse pointer leaving the viewport and pops up a CSS overlay begging
you to subscribe or buy something or take some action other than leaving the
site.

The new technique that I find particularly obnoxious is when a site detects your mouse pointer leaving the viewport and pops up a CSS overlay begging you to subscribe or buy something or take some action other than leaving the site.

Yes this is annoying but like everything else once the public gets used to it, they will ignore it.

From a practical point of view, they probably think "well everyone's on Facebook
anyway" and while it's a good idea to meet people where they are, it probably
benefits Facebook more than it benefits the company establishing a presence
there.

Or perhaps many of them are thinking "all the other consumer brands are doing
this so we should too." AOL Keywords.

That's fine with me! I clicked on the story to *read* it, not to have your
auto-playing video raping my speakers. I've said it before: unless your name
is YouTube, I do *not* want a video to automatically start playing. If you
think your unwanted video is a value add that I can't have unless I turn off
my ad blocker ... GOOD!

So let's talk about the second-worst problem on the internet: SPAM. I'm finding
it more and more difficult to filter spam. Are the days of being able to
run email without paying a commercial spam filtering service coming to an
end? SpamAssassin plus a bunch of RBL's and DNSBL's used to be very effective,
but lately the volume of spam that slips through is getting unbearable.

What's everyone else doing these days? (No, I will not switch to gmail,
so don't suggest that. If you suggest it I will kill myself and my blood
will be on your hands.)